DVD editing - How to preserve quality?

[funkygirl4]

Hi. I'm creating a compilation video which is built up of many different individual clips that will be taken from a variety of different DVD's. I've used DVD Decrypter to grab the VOB files from the DVD's onto my hard drive. What I want to do now is go through these files and pick out the clips I need.

Given the number of clips and DVD's involved, and given that the order of the clips in the final compilation isn't set, I'll probably need to slice each clip into its own file to be reimported back into the editor - Sony Vegas - where I can put them all together. Is there an easy way to do this while avoiding any loss of quality? Can VirtualDubMod be used for this?

I know that I will lose quality during the final encoding in Vegas, but I want to limit that loss of quality to as little as possible.

Any advice gratefully received.

[smrpix]

You can load the vobs directly into vegas. Subclip the sections you want, rearrange them as you please. No quality loss until export.

[manono]

Is there an easy way to do this while avoiding any loss of quality?

An easy way to do what? Cut chunks out of your VOBs? Yes, MPEG2Cut2, among others apps, can do the cutting with no quality loss at all. It can join all the pieces together later on as well. I don't know why you're using Sony Vegas if all you're doing is cutting and then joining.

Can VirtualDubMod be used for this?

No.

I know that I will lose quality during the final encoding in Vegas...

Again, if all you're doing is cutting and then joining, there should be no need to reencode or lose quality. If you're doing other things though - things like creating transitions between clips - then of course it'll have to be reencoded afterwards.

[smrpix]

...If you're doing other things though - things like creating transitions between clips - then of course it'll have to be reencoded afterwards.

...or specifically, if your clips are mismatched in terms of framerate or aspect ratio.

[manono]

...or specifically, if your clips are mismatched in terms of framerate or aspect ratio.

Yeah, possibly. Thanks for pointing that out.

[budwzr]

I know that I will lose quality during the final encoding in Vegas, but I want to limit that loss of quality to as little as possible.

DVD video is not high quality to begin with. Upscaling it in Vegas would be a vast improvement.

Not to mention all the good utilities in Vegas, like Levels. Just using Levels, Brightness, and Contrast, alone can dramatically improve any video. Try them and see for yourself.

All DVD video is 60 frames interlaced Mpeg2. Any framerate changes are already baked in. No need to do anything special. 16X9 accomodates all aspect ratios. No need to crop anything.

720p is 16X9 and gives you 4X upscale resolution. Perfect. Set your project to 720p and render to 720p and you're all set.

The only exception to easy-peasy is setting anamorphic video to non-square pixels before render. You might have to do those separately, then bring them back in with the rest. You have to bring these back to 16X9 format because they're squeezed into 4:3.

And if I made an error or left anything out, it will get pointed out in the following post(s) below. (just scroll down)

Hahaha

[smrpix]

The only exception to easy-peasy is setting anamorphic video to non-square pixels before render. You might have to do those separately, then bring them back in with the rest. You have to bring these back to 16X9 format because they're squeezed into 4:3.

And if I made an error or left anything out, it will get pointed out in the following post(s) below. (just scroll down)

Hahaha

(to self) Musn't let budwzr down!

Actually aspect ratio can be adjusted within the timeline. Quite easy peasy.

[videobruger]

- things like creating transitions between clips -

Which I just as often create as a photo slide show and put between clips from a ripped DVD when re-authoring a custom DVD avoiding to re-encode the clips - only the transitions.

[manono]

Which I just as often create as a photo slide show and put between clips from a ripped DVD when re-authoring a custom DVD avoiding to re-encode the clips - only the transitions.

So you can do such things as fades and dissolves between video clips without actually reencoding everything? That's good to know. Thanks. Never made a DVD slideshow myself. I do plenty of fades and dissolves when making 'restorations', but I'm reencoding everything eventually anyway.

Depending on what funkygirl4 is really doing with all her clips, maybe that will be useful to her. I assume you're referring to DVDSlideshowGUI?

[videobruger]

Actually I use Photodex Proshow Gold and I believe (whithout actually making a comparision) that it has more transitional effects than Sony Vegas - as well as effects on the slide itself.

PS Made this in another context. Nothing fancy just an illustration of a transition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqUzg8FfVwI

[sanlyn]

Sony Vegas will re-encode in its entirety any mpeg whose structure and encoding proifile doesn't exactly match that of Sony's built-in rendering profiles. Changing color and levels itself means re-encoding. On top of that you're stuck with Sony's Main Concept consumer-be-damned mpeg encoder. Good luck.

Someone said the physical frame size of 16x9 DVD video is changed to 4:3 for encoding. No. 720x480 for DVD (whether the display aspect ratio is 16x9 or not) is not a 4:3 frame, it's 1.5:1 physical frame aspect ratio. DVD is encoded as non-square pixels at either a 4:3 DAR or 16:9 DAR.

[smrpix]

Really, just do it in vegas from the original vobs. You're going to have generational loss on effects or anything that doesn't match your main format -- but that's also true of any other workflow you use.

Are there better encoders than mainconcept? Sure. Would you see the difference? Perhaps. Will it take you a lot longer to break out each clip and each transition and each title, separately process them, and then recombine them? You bet.

[budwzr]

Sony Vegas will re-encode in its entirety any mpeg whose structure and encoding proifile doesn't exactly match that of Sony's built-in rendering profiles. Changing color and levels itself means re-encoding. On top of that you're stuck with Sony's Main Concept consumer-be-damned mpeg encoder. Good luck.

So? BFD! You're puttin' lipstick on that pig beforehand to compensate.

Someone said the physical frame size of 16x9 DVD video is changed to 4:3 for encoding. No. 720x480 for DVD (whether the display aspect ratio is 16x9 or not) is not a 4:3 frame, it's 1.5:1 physical frame aspect ratio. DVD is encoded as non-square pixels at either a 4:3 DAR or 16:9 DAR.

No, I said "squeezed".

======================================

There's two camps of thought on this subject. The Conservationists, and the Stylists.

I consider DVD material as something from the past generation, worthy of watching, but not worthy of white glove treatment. Ted Turner tried colorizing older B/W stuff to get one more view out of them, but alas, they're finally Gone With The Wind.

If someone had a video of cavemen grunting, now THAT would need white gloves.

[budwzr]

Are there better encoders than mainconcept? Sure. Would you see the difference? ...

You can only see the "difference" if you view them both side by side, and who's gonna do that?

Of course, as video editors, we notice WAY more things than the average person. And our standard is much higher. We see the faults first, whereas the average person has to be shown.

If you look closely at "Broadcast" video on TV, you'll see a lot of shortcuts and hack jobs in the animation of products. But the average viewer doesn't notice it.

[smrpix]

If someone had a video of cavemen grunting, now THAT would need white gloves.

Were you reading this? http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/09/22/how_complex_was_neanderthal_speech.html

I ran across it over the weekend.

[_Al_]

Sony Vegas will re-encode in its entirety any mpeg whose structure and encoding proifile doesn't exactly match that of Sony's built-in rendering profiles.

Sometimes it doesn't have to exactly match the profile, you can try to change fields or set none as oppose to default interlace and it might still render smart. Depends even on version of Vegas.

[budwzr]

If someone had a video of cavemen grunting, now THAT would need white gloves.

Were you reading this? http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/09/22/how_complex_was_neanderthal_speech.html

I ran across it over the weekend.

No, coincidence. Hahaha. I've seen people with those sloping foreheads though. Wondered if they're transitional forms of Evolution.